JPL scientists sue to block security checks for staff

The group says the background checks would access too much personal information.

By John Johnson Jr., Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
August 31, 2007

A group of 28 scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory filed suit in
federal court Thursday to block implementation of a Bush administration
directive requiring new background checks for employees.

The employees, including senior scientists who have worked on projects
including the Voyager missions and the Cassini mission to Saturn, say
they will lose their jobs unless they consent to allow the government
to scrutinize such things as their sexual history.

"Our clients are exemplary employees who have spent their work
lives bettering this country. This attack on their right to privacy
will not be tolerated," said Dan Stormer of the Hadsell & Stormer
law firm in Pasadena.

The class action lawsuit seeks a court order that would prevent JPL, in
La Caņada Flintridge, and NASA from imposing the new security
background requirements. A hearing on the request for a preliminary
injunction is scheduled for Sept. 24.

JPL and other NASA centers have been ordered to issue new badges to
federal employees and their nongovernmental workforce under a 2004
executive order, Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12. To obtain
the badges, employees must be fingerprinted, fill out a questionnaire
and authorize access to some personal information.

David Mould, a NASA spokesman in Washington, said JPL employees were
being treated no differently than other executive branch workers.

"We're implementing this with all other federal agencies," he said. "These are standard background checks."

NASA Administrator Michael Griffin, in a meeting with employees June 4,
said the increased security was a direct result of the Sept. 11 terror
attacks. He said the agency would not budge on the new security order.

"We will miss those folks" who do not comply with the order, he said. "That is their choice."

Stormer and several JPL scientists who appeared with him at a news
briefing at the law firm's offices said the new badges would not make
the country safer.

JPL has about 5,000 employees. The badging process has been initiated
on more than 4,000 of them. More than 3,000 have completed the process,
Veronica McGregor, a JPL spokeswoman, said recently.

McGregor said earlier this month that a small number of JPL employees
appeared to be upset by the new requirements. Now that the matter is in
court, she said she had no further comment.

The employees who appeared at the news conference disagreed. They said
resentment is widespread at the lab. Groups of protesters have handed
out fliers at the front gate. A website has also been established as a
clearinghouse for information.

Susan Foster, a technical editor and writer at JPL for 29 years, said
most employees have felt too intimidated to speak out. She said she
would resign rather than comply with the new requirements.

Two levels of security are covered by the new order. Only those who
need access to secure areas of the laboratory are subject to more
rigorous requirements, which could include reviewing medical records,
officials said.

Stormer said the supposedly less-intrusive questionnaire is worse than
the other one because it is open-ended. "There is no limitation" to
what the government can ask for, he said. "It is a more despicable
form."

Mould said he was unaware of any organized opposition to the new
security requirements at NASA's other centers in Texas, Florida, Ohio
and elsewhere. The employees filing the lawsuit said they had heard of
opposition at other centers but cited no specifics.

Altogether, NASA has about 20,000 employees, many of whom are contractors.

Among those also appearing at the briefing were Dennis Byrnes, JPL's
chief engineer for flight dynamics; Robert M. Nelson, a senior research
scientist; Varoujan Gorjian, an astronomer specializing in black hole
research; and his brother Zareh Gorjian, who has produced short
animated films for the news media and public for numerous missions,
including Cassini and the Mars rovers.

"I am truly appalled," Byrnes said. "Many will flee government service" rather than submit to these new requirements.

Besides Foster, none said they had made up their minds whether to quit rather than comply with the directive.